


a night and a day

by cosimascully



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F, Fake Relationship, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosimascully/pseuds/cosimascully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh my god,” she says, just as Jenny opens her mouth.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“We’ve got to pretend to be in a relationship, don’t we?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i couldn't resist this trope, sorry ;)
> 
> part one of two- i'll have the other part up in a couple of days, probably on friday :) also, thanks to my sister (avatarbuffy on tumblr) for beta'ing this

“Jenny.” Clara shakes her friend’s shoulder. “Earth to Jenny?”

Jenny starts, jumping up from the seat they’d been sitting at for over ten minutes. She looks around the room a little wildly, glancing at Clara, then at the woman who had just entered the room, standing behind the counter.

“Are you ready to check in?” The woman drums her fingers on the wooden surface, her extraordinarily long nails making a sharp noise with every tap. Clara doesn’t half blame her—the woman had said those words twice already, in an effort to catch Jenny’s attention.

“Oh! Yes,” Jenny says hurriedly. She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and steps toward the counter, blinking a few times to bring herself out of her daydream. Clara stands up to join her.

The woman makes a note on an electronic device. “Off-worlders, you two?”

Clara nods. She thought it was rather obvious—that is, if all the native inhabitants of this planet looked like the woman. She was shorter than both of them, had no hair, and her skin was a dark color that looked almost blue in the dim light.

Jenny smiles. “We arrived just three hours ago, in my ship.” She leans forward, bracing her elbows on the low counter. “We came to see Insyre Rock.”

The woman’s face softens as she smiles. “The gates open tomorrow, after sunrise.” She turns around to pull something resembling a keycard off of the wall. “Just one room for you and your partner?”

Clara blushes—the woman’s mistake is a common one. She _should_ be used to the flustered feeling she gets as she corrects the assumption, as she says that she and Jenny aren’t in a relationship. _Unfortunately_ , she’ll often add to herself—god. What she wouldn’t give to be able to truthfully say that they _were_ dating. But things just weren’t like that with them.

She opens her mouth to brush the whole thing off, but Jenny starts before her.

“Yeah,” she says, reaching out to take the keycard. “How much’ll that be?”

Clara’s eyes widen and she nudges Jenny in the side, as the woman looks down at her device. Jenny looks up.

“What—?” she begins, but the woman interrupts her, stating the price for one night. Clara shuts her mouth and watches as Jenny pulls out an interstellar credit stick. Later. She’ll ask her later.

They take the stairs up to their assigned room and walk down the dimly lit hallway to room 247. Clara looks around her as she walks, taking it in. Everything in the hotel feels slightly _off_ —darker and smaller, mostly. Probably because of the natives’ height, and maybe… Maybe they could see in the dark better. In any case, she can’t remember the last time she felt _tall_ around anyone, but the stunted ceilings and shorter stairs make her feel clumsy, big.

Jenny scans their card through a device on their door and it _clicks_ , unlocking. She pushes it open and they both walk inside, looking around. Clara sets her bag on a luggage rack, grateful that the room seems to have the basic necessities. Last week they had to spend a night in what was practically a mud pit, which was considered _nice_ on that planet.

She turns to Jenny, cocking her head to the side. “Alright, so—what was that about?”

Her friend blinks, head jerking up. She looks puzzled. “What d’you mean?”

Clara furrows her brow. “Are you alright? Only, you’ve been awfully quiet today—you keep zoning out, not saying anything…” She takes a step closer. “You feeling okay?”

Jenny nods quickly, giving Clara a reassuring smile. “Yes, of course, Clara! I’ve just been thinking. A lot.” She nods again, swallowing. Her gaze flicks up and their eyes meet briefly.

Clara bites her lip, unsure, but decides not to press it. “Okay, but… seriously—what was that about, in the lobby? The whole—” She waves her hand. “Partner thing?”

“Oh!” Jenny goes a little red and she hesitates—Clara gives her a curious look. Jenny’s certainly not the type to beat around the bush. She always calls things as she sees them, learning as she goes, from observations and frequent questions.

Jenny rubs at her neck and Clara suddenly understands—she’s _embarrassed_. Uncomfortable. She recognizes the look in her eyes, it’s the same one that she had when she forgot to fix the accelerator on their ship. It’d taken them three times as long to travel one third of the distance they had originally planned to go.

Clara’s eyes widen as the pieces start to fall into place. Jenny had obviously forgotten something—and the woman at the desk had just _assumed_ that they were—“Oh my god,” she says, just as Jenny opens her mouth.

“What?”

“We’ve got to pretend to be in a relationship, don’t we?” She sits down on the bed, and looks at Jenny. The mattress creaks underneath her weight. No wonder Jenny’d felt embarrassed—it was pretty big thing to forget to tell Clara. “Otherwise they won’t let us visit the, um, rock—what’d you say it was called?”

“Insyre Rock.”

She wrinkles her nose. “I think I saw a movie once, like this. I thought it was ridiculous then, but this is real life! What about the people who don’t even _want_ to be in a relationship?”

Jenny sits down next to her, slowly, chewing her lip. “It’s… not exactly fair, is it?”

Clara shakes her head. “No. Not at all.”

“We could—” Jenny stops. “If you don’t want to do this, we could leave. Are you okay with this?”

Clara hesitates. It wouldn’t exactly be a chore, to pretend to be Jenny’s girlfriend. She _wants_ to do it, in fact, it’s likely one of the only chances that she’ll get to have something more with her. But if Jenny knew that that was part of the reason why she’s saying yes…

Before she can stop herself, she finds herself nodding. “It’s just for a night and a day, right? Not too hard.” She smiles, trying to look unconcerned, despite her fast-beating heart. “Besides, we came all this way! You said that this rock is beautiful.”

“It is!” Jenny suddenly grins and grabs Clara’s hand. “Did I tell you about it? It’s been around for millennia, and it’s _enormous._ ” She spreads her other hand wide, as far as it can reach. “People started carving their names on it, with the date, thousands of years ago. And now that interstellar travel is fairly common in these parts, people from all over the universe come so they can get their names immortalized in stone as well.”

Clara grins. “That is pretty cool,” she admits.

“Technically, some of the names on the rock are the oldest autographs this side of the galaxy! Looking at them is like…”

“Taking a peak into the past,” Clara finishes. Jenny’s grin fades to a simple smile and her eyes soften.

“Exactly.”

They sit in silence for a moment, each lost in thought. Finally, Clara yawns and rolls back her shoulders, stretching. “D’you know how many hours till it’s time to see it?”

“About five till sunrise,” Jenny says. “But we can sleep in, of course.” She stands up, crosses over to their bag, and pulls out two pairs of pajamas. Her lips turn up, just so, as she looks at the shorts and tank top Clara had picked out for her—before they had met, Jenny had never even heard of pajamas. Clara still catches her grinning at them occasionally, as if the concept of clothing for sleep is amusing.

“Here,” Jenny says. She holds out Clara’s pajamas. “You can get changed first, if you like.”

Clara nods, takes the clothes and her toothbrush from the bag, and slips into the bathroom. She gets changed and cleans her teeth quickly, fixing her hair as she looks in the mirror. Now that Jenny’s not looking at her expectantly, she forces herself to slow down.

What is she _doing?_

Pretending to be Jenny’s girlfriend, yes, but beyond that? Will this mean anything for them?

She swallows. It doesn’t _have_ to mean anything. It could just be something fun, something ridiculous. Something they could laugh about later… later, when Clara will _still_ be secretly wishing that their make-believe could have become true.

She exhales roughly, closing her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t a g—

“You okay in there?”

Clara rakes her hair out of her eyes. “Um, yeah! Be right out!” She takes a deep breath and opens the door, smiling. “All yours!”

* * *

 

Clara doesn’t realize, not until they’re both dressed and ready for sleep, that there’s only one bed for the two of them. She presses her lips together—the people of this planet are certainly _obsessed_ with the idea that everyone should be in some sort of relationship.

Not that she would usually mind, sharing a bed with Jenny. They’ve done it before. But tonight, part of her wishes she could have some space, time of her own to think.

If Jenny notices her slight reserve, she doesn’t say anything. Her energy and focus are back from the brief hiatus they seem to have taken while in the lobby. She bounces onto the bed, claiming the left side, and chatters excitedly about what they’ll be doing tomorrow. Clara smiles and nods every so often, and slides in on the right side, pulling the blankets over her legs.

“I can’t believe how short this bed is.” Jenny changes topics abruptly. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a bed this short.” She flops onto her back and pushes her legs out. Her feet peak out underneath the edge of the blanket and she wiggles her toes as she grins up at Clara.

She gives a genuine laugh at the sight, feeling a little more at ease. She arranges her pillows so that the fluffiest one is on top, and lies down, curling up her legs to keep them under the blanket.

“It’s so narrow, too,” she says. She looks at Jenny, less than a foot away.

Jenny bites her lip. “Are you sure about—?”

“Yes,” Clara says quickly, despite her private worries. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Okay.” Jenny takes a deep breath. “Just wanted to be sure. Since I didn’t really ask beforehand.” She swallows.

Clara nods. “And you’re…?”

Jenny nods. “I’m good, too.”

“Good.” She smiles. She closes her eyes and tries to relax. For the next ten, fifteen, twenty minutes she can hear Jenny inhale and exhale at the same rate—still awake. She wonders what she’s thinking of, of what could be keeping _her_ from sleep.

* * *

 

Clara wakes up sometime in the middle of the night. Jenny has, once again, ended up in the middle of the bed, with more than her fair share of blankets piled on top of her. Only this time, her arms are wrapped firmly around Clara’s waist, her face buried in Clara’s shoulder.

It’s… It’s nice.

Well. More than nice, really. Clara wills her heart to slow down and she closes her eyes. Hesitantly, she wraps her free arm around Jenny, splaying her hand out across her back.

Pretending they’re in a relationship certainly won’t be the hard part—it’s the fact that she has to act completely unaffected that’s going to get her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologizes for not getting this up on Friday like I said I would!! Hopefully the length makes up for it, since it's literally twice as long as the first part (oops) 
> 
> Grace (avatarbuffy from tumblr) beta'd this again-- thank youuu <3

Clara and Jenny enter the breakfast area the next morning, holding hands. The room’s low-key energy pairs well with how empty the space feels—Clara guesses that most of the tourists who came to see Insyre Rock left as the sun rose, three hours previously.

They go through the buffet line quickly, Clara trying not to look very hard at the selections. There’s something that looks like eggs, but couldn’t possibly have come from a chicken, as well as a sort of meat that smells odd. She eventually decides on a bright pink fruit and the alien equivalent of toast and jam.

Jenny, on the other hand, tries _everything_. She smiles at Clara, her plate piled high, and motions toward an empty table. “There look good?” Clara nods.

They sit down and dig in. Clara finds the fruit to be the absolute _best_ she’s eaten, and Jenny encourages her to try the pseudo-eggs—“They’re amazing, they taste like nothing I’ve eaten before!” They both agree that the odd-smelling meat and some of the fruits don’t quite suit their palates, and push those foods away from them.

“Off-worlders?”

Clara’s head jerks up. An older individual, a native by their looks, stands next to their table. Their smile grows when Jenny nods.

“I thought so, when I first saw you. Not many of our kind are as tall as you. Or as pale. But not liking the Kurrfank meat—that’s the real tell! Never met a foreigner who enjoyed that particular taste. I love it, though.”

Jenny grins. “You do? We don’t want it to go to waste—why don’t you join us? You can have it!”

The person’s wrinkled face splits into a full grin. “I think I will, thank you for asking. It will certainly save me a trip to the buffet line.” They take a seat at their table, pulling the serving of the Kurrfank meat and other food toward them. “I’m Ontai, by the way.”

“I’m Clara.” She glances at Jenny. “And this is my—my partner. Jenny.” Her words come out in a stumble and she wills herself not to blush.

“Ah, you _are_ together, then.” They nod and pick up a spare eating utensil in order to start eating the extra food. “I thought that too.”

Clara nods, not sure how to follow that without giving away her mixed feelings about the whole situation. Jenny sits forward in her chair, however, still smiling.

“What brought you to this hotel, if you’re a native? We came to see Insyre Rock.”

“As did I!” Ontai bobs their head up and down, the corners of their lips turning upward, just so. “I’m from the opposite side of the planet; I’ve only been here once. When I was a child. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to return.” They look around the room, smiling happily. “It’s good to be back.”

Clara frowns. Is this only their ‘first opportunity’ to come back because, before now, they hadn’t had a spouse or partner? She feels irritated, suddenly, at the entire system—this person had probably wanted to see Insyre Rock for decades. And the people who ran the park hadn’t allowed it.

Ontai clasps their hands together, startling Clara out of her reverie. “Enough about me, though. Tell me about yourselves. Where do you hail from?”

Jenny glances at Clara. “I’m from Messaline! I started traveling the universe a few years ago, and met Clara on Earth. We decided to travel together, a few months after meeting. We’ve been all over the place ever since!”

Ontai pops a piece of fruit in their mouth, still smiling around their mouthful. “Why, that’s beautiful! Such a free life—and I can see how much you two love each other, just by the way you look at each other.”

Jenny grabs Clara’s hand, and when she looks over, she’s _grinning_. Grinning and biting her lip, almost shyly. Clara’s face heats up. Jenny’s totally immersed herself in her role, to the point that Clara wonders if this is just a _game_ to her. She doesn’t have to look so convincing!

“You know,” Clara finds herself saying. “That’s one of the reasons I knew Jenny was in love with me. The way she looked at me.”

Ontai makes a soft _aww_ , while Jenny suddenly goes into a coughing fit. Clara catches Jenny’s eye as she tries to gain back her breath, and shrugs. She tries to convey, with the simple motion, that _she’s_ simply into her role as well.

“That must have been such a moment, when you told Jenny that you loved her as well,” Ontai says, smiling.

“It was.” Jenny sits forward, speaking up quickly before Clara. “I’ll always be so glad we have this. Life just wouldn’t be the same, without Clara.”

Clara swallows. “That’s—that’s so sweet,” she says, trying desperately to stay in-character. Jenny’s declaration sounds far too real, again, and she doesn’t want her to know that it’s affected her.

“You two are _both_ sweet,” Ontai says. They set down their utensil, and for the first time Clara notices that their plate is practically empty. “And it was very lovely to meet you. “ They pause, looking over Clara and Jenny’s shoulder. “Unfortunately, I have to leave, now. I can see that Beliila is motioning to me to hurry up.”

Clara looks around, behind her, and catches sight of an older woman who’s looking in their table’s direction. She looks back at Ontai. “It was nice meeting you too.”

“And I hope you and Beliila have a great time today! Maybe we’ll see you at the Rock.”

“Maybe we will!” Ontai stands up. “I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to introduce you two to her.”

They give Clara and Jenny another smile before walking towards Beliila. Jenny smiles after them and then turns back to her plate of food.

“They were nice, weren’t they?”

“Yeah.” Clara nods. She picks up her own eating utensil and eats the last piece of fruit she has left, chewing thoughtfully.

* * *

 

After they finish eating, Jenny and Clara stop by the front desk for instructions to the Rock. The desk clerk gives them a map, which they hardly need again after looking at it—a trail leads almost directly from the hotel to the park.

Jenny takes Clara’s hand again, just as she had earlier in the morning. Clara doesn’t allow herself to dwell on it that much—they usually only hold hands when running away from danger, when trying to stay together. If this is a little more domestic, so what? She’s only doing it because of the whole fake relationship act.

Though, why she’s doing it when no one else is around, she can’t quite figure out.

“The nature here is beautiful,” Clara comments, looking around them. Most of the plants are low to the ground—possibly due to the lower levels of sunlight— and are shades of dark, mossy green. There are a few tree-like structures, however, that tower well over Clara’s head, and have leaves colored purple.

“Isn’t it?” Jenny smiles, swinging their hands between their bodies. “I think I could spend all _day_ out here, exploring.”

Clara smiles and closes her eyes, soaking up the moment. This feels _natural_ , this energy between them. Not some act that they have to put on.

The gates of the park come in sight and Jenny picks up their pace, her grin growing wider. “C’mon! We’re almost there!”

They have to pay a small fee to enter, but Jenny’s credit stick takes care of that. Soon they’re on the other side of the gate, and as they go over a hill, Insyre Rock comes into view.

“Oh my stars,” Clara mutters. It’s _gigantic_. Jenny had mentioned that last night, but her words had failed to convey the enormity of the structure. She reckons she could fit several houses inside of it, if it was hollow, in both directions—it’s tall, and goes on for meters upon meters upon meters.

“It’s even more beautiful than I imagined!” Jenny’s eyes are wide. “And the color—!”

“You didn’t tell me it was blue-ish, Jenny.” The surface looks to be the same texture as a regular rock-face, but the stone has a definite blue tinge.

“I didn’t know that myself!” Jenny grins. “What an amazing surprise.”

She tugs Clara closer to the Rock, along the path that winds through the park. Other people are on the path too—couples and families, a lot of whom look to be off-worlders too. They see individuals who are much taller than them, some who are even shorter than the natives of this planet. Some have light skin, others dark, still others with two or three different colors over their body. Clara can see people with fur, or shells, or horns—the countless variations in the crowd shatter any expectations she might have had for ‘normalcy.’

“I think this is my favorite place we’ve been,” she murmurs, grinning at Jenny.

“Me too.” Jenny looks around, wide eyes taking everything—and everyone—in.

They keep walking, until they’re close to the Rock, walking along side of it. A railing separates this section of it from the path, and they slow their pace to look up at the surface. Words are scrawled, in flowing scrip, over portions of the stone. Some have dates underneath them; others even bear short messages, or drawings.

“I think this is the oldest section,” Jenny says. “They only allow names and dates and where you’re from, now—and in much smaller lettering. They don’t want to waste any of the available space.”

“Do they not allow new names right here?” Clara scans some of the dates. Jenny has told her a little about the Star-date system, and the ones marked accordingly look to be over a thousand years old—not anywhere near modern times.

Jenny shakes her head. “Don’t think so. The places that they do allow—they’re probably down the path.” Her face lights up. “D’you want to do that? Get our names on the Rock?”

Clara nods eagerly. “I was waiting for you to ask!”

* * *

 

The system for marking names onto Insyre Rock seems to be rather straightforward, at least according to a set of instructions outlined on the back of their park map.

“We’ll have to get a stamp,” Clara says, glancing at the guidelines. “It’s… It’s sort of a high-tech thing, I think. It adheres to the stone surface, and lasers the words onto the rock. We can do it anywhere we like, except the off-limits places.”

“Where do we get a stamp like that, then?” Jenny cocks her head to the side, reading over Clara’s shoulder.

“There’re stands, selling them, all over the park. They custom make them for you, and you can buy them.”

“Oh!” Jenny’s head jerks up. “Like that one?”

Clara looks up. A stand like one she’d described, sits to the side of the path, around ten meters away from them. A few people are gathered around it, but the queue doesn’t look long, so they walk over to join it. The man running the business works quickly with every order, so, before long, Jenny and Clara are at the front.

He glances at the two of them, his eyes lingering on their hands, still clasped together. “Just one stamp for the two of you, then?”

Clara nods. “I’m Clara, from Earth—and this’s Jenny, from Messaline.”

The man nods, filling a few blanks on his device. “Is there a surname you’d like to put down?”

“Oswald,” Clara says, automatically.

“So, that’d be Jenny and Clara Oswald? Or Clara and Jenny Oswald?”

Clara stares at the man. She doesn’t dare look at Jenny—she opens her mouth to respond, but the last two words he’d said keep ringing in her ears. The words stick in her throat.

“The first way,” Jenny says, as the silence starts to feel a bit awkward. “Thanks so much!”

The man nods and turns to his stamp-making machine to impute the information. A few minutes later, he hands them their stamp, and they step away from the stand.

“So, _Jenny Oswald_ , hmm?” Jenny grins, and Clara blushes.

“I’m sorry.” She rubs the back of her neck. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind.” She bumps her shoulder to Clara’s. “I’ve always wanted a surname! And… as far as they go, yours isn’t bad.”

“Yeah?” Clara smiles.

“Yeah.”

Clara bites her lip. “C’mon. Let’s go find a place to put our names.”

* * *

 

There are catacombs within Inyre Rock, that many people venture inside and laser their names onto the cave walls, but Clara and Jenny decide to stay outside—though slightly more crowded, the exterior walls of the Rock are more visible.

“I’d like as many people as possible to be able to see our names, thousands of years from now,” Clara grins.

They walk along the path, scanning the walls for a suitable place to adhere their stamp. Jenny seems to be looking for the ‘perfect’ place—somewhere not to high, not to low, somewhere that the rock protrudes _just_ the right amount. Whenever Clara thinks she’s found a nice spot, Jenny shakes her head and tugs her along, laughing.

“Seriously, Jenny, we can’t spend all day looking for this ‘perfect’ spot.”

“Why not?” Jenny grins. “This’s fun, isn’t it?”

Clara smiles. She does have a point—the weather is wonderful and she feels light inside. Happy. Searching for the perfect place feels, well… perfect. “Well. Yeah. Okay, I guess we can spend all day looking for the right rock.”

Jenny’s eyes widen, as she catches sight of something over Clara’s shoulder. Clara wheels around, looking to and fro. “What—? Did you see a good spot?”

“No, no, it’s just—look! Ontai and Beliila! Want to go say hello?”

Clara catches sight of the two individuals—both are kneeling at the base of the rock, looking at one of the inscriptions. Ontai’s trailing a finger along the words, while Beliila smiles, looking over their shoulder.

“Yeah.” Clara nods. “Let’s go say hi.”

They stroll over to them, Jenny waving a hand to catch their attention. Ontai’s face breaks into a wide grin, and they straighten, motioning for Beliila to stand up as well.

“Beliila, these are the two lovely woman I was having breakfast with this morning.”

Beliila inclines her head and raises a teasing eyebrow. “Yes, the ones you abandoned me for!” she laughs. Ontai scoffs good-humoredly.

“You could’ve joined us,” they say, a teasing light in their eyes. The wrinkles around Beliila’s eyes grow deeper as her smile widens.

“Nice to meet you,” Clara says, grinning.

“If it makes you feel better, Ontai was a wonderful breakfast mate!” Jenny says. She rocks forward on the tips of her feet, eyes sparkling.

“Well, I suppose I can forgive them, if you two benefitted from their presence.” Beliila looks at the portion of the Rock they’d been examining, then back toward Clara and Jenny.

“Were you two just stamping your name into the Rock?” Jenny asks. “We were just looking for a spot to put our own names!”

Beliila laughs. “Oh, no, we were looking at our old inscriptions. The ones we made decades ago, when we were children.”

“We came here when we were little—I thought I mentioned that, at breakfast,” Ontai says.

Clara furrows her brow. “Yeah, you did,” she says slowly. “I just thought that it was only you who’d been here before.” Blimey—had they known each other all this time, and only gotten together recently? Or maybe—

Ontai smiles. “We were just talking about Beliila’s inscription. She was so young, then, she put it on crooked and nearly ruined mine.” They laugh and turn to Beliila. “Remember? Mother was so upset, she thought you’d wasted our money and messed up both our stamps.”

Clara laughs and opens her mouth to say something, when Ontai’s words sink in. She freezes.

She almost asks them to repeat what they last said—surely she heard wrong, or misunderstood. There’s no chance, absolutely none that they meant to imply that they’re—they’re—

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Jenny glance at her. It’s a small movement, but in that second, she sees her friend swallow. _Nervously_.

What if—?

“Oh my _god_ ,” she says, jaw dropping open.

“Clara—” Jenny grabs her arm, but Clara takes a step back, out of her grip.

“What’s wrong?” Beliila furrows her brow. Clara shakes her head, trying to pull her thoughts into order, trying to slow down her quickly beating heart.

“It’s—It’s nothing,” she lies. “So, um—you two are siblings, then? Came just with each other?” She inwardly cringes, hoping her questions sound a lot more casual than she feels.

Ontai nods. “Yes, yes, that’s true. We’ve been wanting to come for years, now, but this was the first we’ve been able to afford it.”

“Right.” Her voice shakes, just slightly. Beside her, Jenny tightens her jaw, remaining completely silent. Completely still.

“You know, I—I wouldn’t want to keep you two from your time together here. And me and Jenny need to—” She doesn’t finish that sentence, unsure of _what_ they need to do.

Ontai nods, as if they understand—Clara almost laughs. She doubts anyone could understand. “Maybe we could have dinner tonight, at the hotel.”

“Maybe,” she says, nodding distractedly. She gives them both a strained smile and turns away, walking down the path, Jenny right behind her.

They walk till they’re out of earshot. And then they keep on walking, far down the path. The groups of people grow more and more scarce, the farther they go, until she and Jenny are the only ones along the stretch of path. And yet, they keep on walking. Clara stares at the engravings they pass, the plants growing along the ground, the clouds in the sky. They were all vibrant a few hours ago, but now—everything has a surreal tinge to it, as if Clara is seeing it all through several layers of warped glass.

Jenny finally breaks the stiff silence. “Are you mad at me?”

Clara stops walking. She reckons she ought to be—Jenny _lied_ to her. Jenny’s never done that to her before. She isn’t malicious, or mean. But she _did_ lie—last night.

“I don’t understand,” she says. “Why—why would you tell me that we had to be in a relationship, when clearly we _don’t_? They were siblings, Jenny! There’s no _rule_ about being together in order to be admitted into the park— was this just a game to you?” A chill runs through her at the possibility.

“Of course not!” Jenny says. “I’d never—”

“But you _did_.” Clara doesn’t know what to say, because now she suddenly feels hot. She _is_ angry, she realizes. She’s never felt more foolish in her entire life. “At the hotel check-in did you just think, ‘why not say that we _are_ a couple, it’ll be fun!’ Didn’t you realize that I wouldn’t appreciate this sort of joke?”

“It’s not a joke!” Jenny bursts out. She furrows her brow together, bites her lip. “I was going to tell you the truth, I never meant to lie to you, but then you jumped to conclusions in the hotel room!”

“So, what, this is my fault?”

Jenny shakes her head vehemently. “It was easier to just agree with you! To go along with the whole relationship policy.”

Clara stares at Jenny, who takes a step closer to her. Clara doesn’t move towards her—but she doesn’t back away either.

“I wanted to take it back in an instant! But then you were okay with pretending to be in a relationship, and I thought it would—it would hurt our friendship less than the truth might.”

“What was the truth?” Clara demands. “Because, whatever you thought—this _does_ hurt, Jenny, I—”

“I love you!”

The words echo off of the Rock’s surface, ringing in the air between them. Clara’s jaw drops open.

She’s always thought the word ‘speechless’ was, in principle, a bit of an exaggeration. Surely, after a bit of thought, anyone would be able to think of something acceptable to say. But now— now, her mind’s completely blank.

“W-what?” she manages.

Jenny doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Her green eyes are wide, like a startled animal’s. She looks just as surprised as Clara feels, in response to her own declaration.

Clara shuts her jaw with a soft _click_. “Jenny—”

“Do you remember how I didn’t hear the receptionist try to get our attention, in the lobby?” Jenny’s words come out quickly.

Clara nods. “You… You were daydreaming about something.”

“Yeah.” Jenny nods. She hesitates, takes a deep breath. “I was daydreaming about us.”

“Because you—you—” She can’t finish the sentence.

Jenny swallows. “I was thinking about our relationship. What might happen someday. I… I couldn’t stop thinking about us, even when we were checking in and I sort of… forgot to say that we weren’t together.”

“You forgot we weren’t in a _relationship_.”

Jenny doesn’t answer that. She doesn’t meet Clara’s eyes either.

“Do you remember what I said in the breakfast room, about life not being the same without you?” She pauses, a brief second of silence in which Clara can hear her heart beating too quickly. “I meant that, Clara! I wasn’t just saying random words. I really do feel that way. And I was scared that if I actually told you that, you would be mad at me! Or that you wouldn’t feel the—the same.”

Clara is speechless, again. She’s never seen Jenny look this lost, in all their time of knowing each other.

“I’m so sorry. I should have just told you—”

“You’re telling me,” Clara interrupts. “That you made up this huge, elaborate scheme, just so we wouldn’t have to talk about our feelings.”

Jenny hangs her head. And then Clara starts laughing.

Jenny’s head jerks up, to stare at her—to watch Clara reach a hand backward to support herself against the Rock. She doubles over, just _laughing._

“What—?”

“I’m sorry,” Clara gasps. “I’m sorry, this isn’t really funny, it’s just—it’s just so _ridiculous_.”

“ _Ridiculous?_ ”

“No, no,” Clara says hurriedly. “Not like that.” She looks up, studying Jenny’s face. Her eyebrows are furrowed together, but there’s something in her eyes—something she would have attributed to ‘good acting’ just one hour before. She can’t help but grin.

Jenny takes another step closer to her. Clara’s half tempted to reach out, grab her wrist, and tug her close. But she lets her approach at her own pace.

“Like what then? Are you still… angry?”

Clara shakes her head. “No. No, I don’t think so,” she says softly. That emotion had disappeared the second Jenny said _I love you_. Now, giddiness spreads from Clara’s heart to the rest of her body. She wants to laugh again, wants to dance with elation. She wants to climb to the top of Insyre Rock and shout the words aloud. _Jenny loves me!_

“So…” Jenny chews her lip, eyes studying Clara’s expression. “If I’d told you all of this yesterday in the hotel room, what would you have said?” She takes another step closer.

“I don’t know if I’d have _said_ anything,” Clara says slyly.

“What would you have _done_ , then?” Another step. If she moved any closer to Clara, they’d be touching.

Clara hooks her fingers through the belt buckles of Jenny’s trousers, closing the distance between them by pulling her against her. Jenny makes a soft noise in the back of her throat, her hands flying up to frame Clara’s torso.

“Something like this,” Clara murmurs. She leans forward to press her lips to Jenny’s, sighing happily as Jenny surges forward, returning the kiss. Her left hand slides up to grip Jenny’s shoulder, the back of her neck, to tangle in her hair. Jenny keeps giggling and having to pull back, only to lean in again to continue kissing Clara.

“If I’d known that that would have happened, I would have told you months ago,” Jenny murmurs.

“Months?” Clara bites her lip, grinning. Jenny blushes, but she grabs her hand to reassure her. “Me too.” She looks down, suddenly shy. “I love you too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Jenny laughs and kisses her again. She cups Clara’s face in between her hands, her thumbs stroking softly over her skin.

“I really am sorry,” she says, a few moments later. “Especially since it hurt you. But even if it hadn’t bothered you at all—it wasn’t really the best thing to do.” Her eyes are wide, innocent. “I don’t usually lie about stuff like this, you know.”

“I know,” Clara says. “And it’s alright, honestly. I probably would have done something similar. Besides…” She plays with a lock of hair that had escaped Jenny’s ponytail a few minutes ago. “Kind of worked out in our favor.”

Jenny smiles. “You’re right! It did, didn’t it?” She giggles. “Hey, Clara.”

“What?”

“Think I found the perfect place to engrave our names.” She motions toward a section of the Rock, right behind where they stand.

“Really? What makes that spot so special?” She thinks she knows, but she wants to hear Jenny say it.

“Be _cause_ …” Jenny gently guides Clara back a few steps, pressing her against the Rock. “Because I’m going to kiss you here for a few minutes. That’s why it’s the perfect spot.”

Jenny’s hands are back on the sides of Clara’s torso, holding her still. Clara grins—she has to agree. It _does_ feel perfect.


End file.
